Truce
by railise
Summary: Gwen and Merlin are stuck between the Pendragon siblings, and even they can't figure things out. S4 crackiness.


**Prompt:** "Uther, Agravaine, Gwaine and Lancelot get taken hostage by a mysterious villain, so it's up to Merlin and Gwen to convince Arthur and Morgana that they need to rescue at least two of them. Trouble is Merlin and Gwen don't agree on which two."  
**A/N:** S4 crack which doesn't completely line up with canonical timelines, for the sake of said crack. For **ag_fics** Team Fic Battle.

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"Where have you put them?" Without any forewarning whatsoever, Morgana strode into Arthur's chambers.

Eyes going wide, he scrambled out of his chair and grabbed his sword, holding it out at the same time she extended her hand. However, when she tried to send him flying... nothing happened. As it became clear that he was not in immediate danger of being brained on the wall behind him, Arthur came around the table. "Put who? And how did you get in here? _GUARDS!_"

"They're unconscious," Morgana muttered as an aside, as she tried to figure out why she was unable to fling her brother through the nearest window. She gave her hand a shake, as though that would get the magic flowing again. "What IS it with this castle?"

From where Merlin had frozen in the act of making Arthur's bed, he suppressed a smile.

"I cannot believe even you would be so bold as to show your face here, Morgana. I did not figure you for making your ransom demands in person."

"What ransom demands?" She wrinkled her nose, looking at Arthur as though he smelled badly. "I came here for my toys. Give them back."

His sword lowered a little. "Toys?" Merlin shrugged, baffled, when Arthur glanced at him in confusion.

"Your simpering uncle and resurrected knight. My... erm, hideout is too quiet without them."

His eyes narrowed, several things suddenly becoming incredibly clear. "I would have thought your 'hideout' would have been noisy enough, with Gwaine nattering on and you ranting to Father about how much you hate him. And me, and all of Camelot."

"Why would I want Uther in my hideout? I'd rather behead him than house him."

"Does that mean you do have Gwaine?" asked Merlin.

She sneered at him. "No."

Arthur watched her closely. "Well, who else would have taken them?"

"Perhaps, they're in the dungeons visiting Agravaine and Lancelot," Morgana snapped.

"Agravaine and Lancelot are not in the dungeons," Arthur enunciated.

Morgana set her hands angrily on her hips. "Then, where are they?"

Two days later, Gwen still was not sure how it was that Morgana had become something of an ally in tracking down the four missing men. No matter the hows; the fact remained that the Pendragon siblings were currently staring at one another in distrust across the clearing beside a lake, whilst Gwen and Merlin quietly debated off to the side.

"We have to bring Gwaine, and... I hate to just leave Lancelot," said Merlin.

"Uther will have to be the first one rescued; Arthur won't have it any other way, you know that."

"Hmm. I don't think it's a good idea to bring Uther and Gwaine back first, and leave the two people Morgana's enchanted alone," Merlin replied. "Besides the fact that she may not be able to use her magic just now, she is pretty good with a sword and probably would not appreciate if we left both of her, um, 'toys' first."

Having traced the captives to a lake, across which was a large cave at the base of some cliffs (a likely place for keeping captives), all should have been well. However, only one small, rickety boat, big enough for four people, was tied to the tiny dock at the edge of the lake. In order to protect their interests, Arthur and Morgana had already determined that they would take two of the seats for each trip across. Their talks broke down after that, as they could not agree which two people to rescue first, being that it was uncertain if the boat would actually survive two trips to the island and back. For want of any better solution, they had tasked Gwen and Merlin with figuring it out.

The sole manner in which this discussion was going better than the previous one was that Gwen and Merlin did not want to kill one another.

Gwen shook her head. "That's so strange, how Morgana's magic isn't working around us. Do you think it has something to do with whoever kidnapped everyone?"

Merlin's eyes widened innocently. "I suppose it's possible."

"I'm not getting any younger, over here!" Morgana called impatiently.

"You'll always be older than me," Arthur retorted, with all the glee of a younger brother.

She glared at him. "When I have my magic back, you'll wish you had never been born, to begin with."

"I will see to it that you make that wish before I do."

His grammatical slip did not go unnoticed by the sorceress, who smiled meanly. "What, that you'd never been born? I have been wishing that for years."

Arthur scowled, then yelled, "Make a decision already, Merlin!"

"You _do_ know that Gwen's helping me decide, right?" Merlin countered. "And, it would not be up to us, if the two of you were capable of even the tiniest smidgen of cooperation."

"I still think we should just let Guinevere decide," Arthur pouted, not for the first time.

"Over my dead body!" Morgana narrowed her eyes at Gwen, who sighed.

"We need to sort this, now," Gwen murmured to Merlin.

"Right. So... Uther and...?"

"Agravaine, I guess?"

Merlin began to nod, but paused. "He gets into people's heads, though. What if we bring the two of them over, and he convinces Arthur to leave Gwaine and Lancelot?"

"I don't see that happening," Gwen said, though she doubted her answer as soon as it was out of her mouth.

"Then, what about Gwaine and Lancelot first?"

"Uther, not Gwaine?"

"But, probably the only reason he was taken was because he was guarding Uther's room," Merlin argued. "It's not fair to leave him over there."

Even though she privately agreed, Gwen lifted her chin. "Why don't you propose to Arthur leaving his father behind?"

"Erm. Oh, no...do you think he'll want to bring Agravaine over first, too, then? Being that it's his uncle, even though he's enchanted."

"Leaving Gwaine and Lancelot?" Gwen did not like that idea, either.

"We're all going to get old and die before you make a decision, aren't we?" Morgana's nonexistent patience was apparently just about gone.

"A decision about what?"

Everybody spun towards the lake, where Gwaine was walking along the edge towards them, helping Uther do the same. Lancelot and Agravaine trailed behind them.

There was not much of a shore apart from the clearing where Merlin, Gwen, Arthur, and Morgana stood; but apparently, there was enough of one for the captives to have moved around the lake, single-file. "I cannot believe we didn't even think to try that," Merlin mumbled, dropping his face into his hands.

"How did you all get here? Who brought you?" Arthur asked, as he went to help Gwaine support Uther.

"Search me," Gwaine shrugged. "Lancelot and I were guarding the king, Agravaine went in to visit him, and the next thing we know- we're in a cave."

"I think it was someone wearing a hooded cloak," Uther added.

"That's helpful," Morgana huffed, making Uther jump.

"Morgana?" he exclaimed.

Arthur swore under his breath, then loudly announced, "Time to go."

"Indeed." Morgana flounced toward the path. Agravaine and Lancelot exchanged a glance, not knowing how to play this particular situation.

"Oh, just go with her," Arthur snapped, gesturing for them to follow the sorceress.

"Why, Arthur?" Agravaine tried.

Arthur groaned.

"I'm not waiting around any longer!" Morgana bellowed. When Arthur gestured once more, Agravaine and Lancelot jogged over to follow her. Before the path took them out of sight, Morgana turned around. "Back to normal tomorrow, Arthur Pendragon."

"Um... not really," he replied. "I know Agravaine and Lancelot are working for you."

She considered that, studying the two men behind her. Finally, she sniffed. "No matter. Rest assured, I'll come up with a new way to bring about your demise."

"I look forward to it," he said dryly.

With a cold nod, Morgana turned and strode off down the path, her henchmen on her heels.

"You two could not be more like siblings if you'd known all your lives," Uther ruminated.

Arthur bit back every answer that came to mind. "Let's just get you home."

"Did this really happen?" Gwen whispered to Merlin, as they all traipsed toward the path.

"I wish I could say it hadn't."


End file.
